


Fallen

by PlatonicRabbit



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Dean Winchester, Angel Sam Winchester, Fallen Angel Gabriel, Gabriel is still Gabriel, Hunter Castiel, Hunter Gabriel, M/M, Season 5 AU, but he doesn't know, reverse verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-29
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-04-17 19:34:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4678733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlatonicRabbit/pseuds/PlatonicRabbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gabriel wants to know about the Archangel he's named after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fallen

Gabriel and Sam were sitting at the table in one of the Novak's endless motel rooms when the hunter finally asked. Castiel had taken Dean to the library for research, so it was just Sam, watching Gabriel get drunk, as usual. The hunter twisted in his chair, trying to find a position that didn’t put pressure on his upper back, where he was perpetually complaining of aching pain.

‘Hey, Sammy, can I ask you something?’ Gabriel turned to look at the angel.

‘You just did,’ Sam replied. He knew he was being unnecessarily formal and obtuse with his charge, but he had to keep up appearances. He couldn’t let himself get attached. Not to this one. If Gabriel got the impression Sam was aloof, unknowable, he wouldn’t press, wouldn’t try to get close to him. It had worked so far.

‘No, no, I mean,’ Gabriel waved his cider bottle in the air, clearly annoyed. ‘A real question.’

Sam nodded cautiously. He was wary of being tricked into a repeat of the brothel incident, but Gabriel had seemed much less inclined to random hook-ups himself since he’d opened the Cage.

‘What’s he like?’ Gabriel asked, looking a lot more serious than moments earlier.

Sam carefully didn’t look at him. He’d seen Gabriel’s eyes lingering on a certain page in the lore books, the way he’d earmarked the entry for later.

‘The real Gabriel. The Archangel one. Who I’m named after.’

Sam closed his eyes. He’d been hoping to avoid this conversation since he’d met his human. Michael had a sick sense of humour; giving this task to Sam.

‘He’s gone.’ Sam said tersely, hoping the conversation would end there.

The room was silent for a minute, and Sam risked glancing at his charge. Gabriel was staring at his cider bottle, shredding the label with his fingernails.

‘Were you close?’ he asked, looking back at Sam.

Sam sighed, taking a minute to consider his answer.

‘I thought we were,’ he said quietly.

Gabriel’s brow furrowed and he watched Sam, clearly hoping for more.

‘He was… it wasn’t anything a human would understand, but yes, we were… close. And then he left. Michael and Lucifer kept fighting and fighting and he couldn’t handle it. So he left Heaven, tore his grace out. Like Anna. We… I never heard from him again.’

Gabriel was silent, watching Sam.

‘You were together,’ he prompted.

Sam inclined his head.

Gabriel turned his face back to his drink, tearing methodically at the label. Colourful, soggy paper fell to the tabletop and Sam stared at it, avoiding eye contact with his charge.

‘You remind me of him,’ Sam said eventually. 

‘You have the same drive for justice that he ha-d. The same will to do what’s right that Gabriel had when I knew him. He wasn’t like the other Archangels. Just the fact he was willing to be close with a Seraph is proof enough of that. He didn’t look down on us, like the other three, just because we were less than him.  
He was joy incarnate, once. My most beloved among the Host, except for Dean, and that was… different. He was different. He loved being around the younger angels, playing games with them, taking them to see Earth. I don’t know if it was because he was the Messenger, because it was his job, or if he was just different, but he always had time for us. For me.  
And then Lucifer rebelled, and Gabriel changed. He withdrew, stopped being around anyone but himself. He even shunned the other Archangels. The worse the fighting got, the worse he got. The day Michael locked Lucifer in the cage, Gabriel left. He didn’t say goodbye to any of us, he didn’t say anything; he just… cut himself off.’

Gabriel stared at Sam, caught off guard by the angel suddenly opening up to him.

‘If he’s like Anna was, he’s not actually dead, right? He’s basically human somewhere. We could… find him. Get him his Grace back. Make him help us. You guys could patch things up, even.’

Sam flinched. ‘I don’t think he would want that. Gabriel Fell a very long time ago, and as far as I know, he hasn’t gone looking for his Grace once.’

‘But, things are different now. There’s an Apocalypse on, and he’s an Archangel. He can’t just sit it out.’

Sam shrugged.

‘I don’t think you would like the outcome of this plan as much as you think,’ he said, looking at the floor.

‘Great.’ The hunter got to his feet, threw the mostly empty cider at the bin in the corner, where it landed with a hollow noise.

‘Another useless former winged dick. Good to know my parents named me after such a fantastic guy.’

Sam glanced up at him, bit his tongue and averted his gaze.

‘I’m going to a bar. Getting drunk properly. Don’t wait up, Sammy,' Gabriel stood up, stretched, trying vainly to adjust his perpetually aching shoulders.

‘I still don’t see why you can’t just heal my back, you know,’ he said to Sam, rotating his shoulders.

Sam glanced at the metaphysical scars Gabriel could no longer see.

‘I told you, Gabriel, there is nothing there that can be healed, by human medicine or by Grace.’

Gabriel made a sour face at the answer, though he’d already known what it would be, and pulled his jacket on. Sam watched him leave, silent, until the door closed and Gabriel was out of sight. The angel hid himself from sight and followed Gabriel, as he always had, on Earth and when they were in Heaven, together.

**Author's Note:**

> THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FLUFF WHAT HAPPENED
> 
> Come talk to me at platonic-rabbit.tumblr.com


End file.
